Rooney played a number 10 role in the 1-0 friendly win over Portugal, though Vardy and Kane struggled to find their best form despite playing against 10 men for much of the game.
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How best to utilise the 30-year-old skipper in France is a key question, especially having impressed in midfield for Manchester United, but Hodgson did not want to focus on England’s all-time top scorer.
England coach Roy Hodgson will take a relatively young squad to the tournament in France, with defender John Stones, midfielders Ross Barkley, Eric Dier, Raheem Sterling and Dele Alli, and strikers Marcus Rashford and Harry Kane all under the age of 23.
Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, who scored 49 Premier League goals between them for Leicester City and Tottenham in 2015-16, were subsequently pushed wide to accomodate Rooney but Hodgson has launched a robust defence of the United forward, and insists his selection dilemma is a good thing.
“There were some moments where you might be right and they were too wide, but their job is to split and come together”, he added.
“We didn’t have many chances, none of us, so it is something the manager is working on and Portugal made it hard”.
“We’re still working on stuff”.
“We have been doing two or three different formations and hopefully they pay off for us”. Of course we will debrief the game after our few days off and see what works best. “It’s one game, the understanding isn’t just going to happen overnight”.
A perennial problem for England is the failure of their supposed star players to replicate their club form on the worldwide stage. “You haven’t got a lot of time to prepare like you do for your clubs”, he said.
A week today England begin their quest to land a first piece of worldwide silverware since 1966. You have to be able to cope with that.
‘But I’ve said many times I don’t think it is part of our culture.
Your teams on the go or at home. You have to be patient.
“It’s a third win on the back of two wins against Turkey and Australia, and this is against Portugal who are actually ranked higher than us in the Federation Internationale de Football Association rankings”.
“It’s a learning curve. We don’t know how well or badly each player, when we select the team, is going to play”.
Kane’s global and Tottenham team-mate Eric Dier spoke of the need for English players to adopt a more “streetwise” approach.
“We’ve got a lot of competition for places, which is good”.
Kane showed admirable integrity against Portugal on Thursday night when Bruno Alves kicked him flush in the temple as he recklessly contested a bouncing ball.
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“I am happy I’m still here”. “I’ve gone in with my head and he’s gone with his foot, so he’s caught me. He didn’t apologise. He was down in the tunnel”.
